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Remember the Lower-Cost Apple Watch Series 1? It's Vintage Now

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Apple today updated the public-facing vintage and obsolete products list on its website. The page confirms that all first-generation Apple Watch models are now obsolete, as we reported earlier this month based on an internal memo. Obsolete products are no longer eligible for repairs or service at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers.

Apple-Watch-Series-1-Vintage-Feature-2.jpg

Another addition to the page is the Apple Watch Series 1, which is now classified as vintage. Introduced alongside the Apple Watch Series 2 in September 2016, the Series 1 was a more affordable model that lacked the Series 2's built-in GPS, brighter display, and improved water resistance. It was also only available with an aluminum case, whereas the Series 2 had aluminum, stainless steel, and ceramic case options. In the U.S., the Series 1 started at $269, compared to $369 for the Series 2.

Apple considers a product to be vintage once five years have passed since it was last distributed for sale. Apple discontinued the Series 1 in September 2018 after introducing the Apple Watch Series 4, so that five-year mark has now been reached. Vintage products are no longer guaranteed to be eligible for repairs at Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers, with service subject to parts availability.

Nowadays, the Apple Watch SE is the budget model, with pricing starting at $249.

Article Link: Remember the Lower-Cost Apple Watch Series 1? It's Vintage Now
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/12/apple-watch-series-1-vintage/
wellander1 said:
What about the man mini 2014? I thought that would be listed as obsolete since the 2018 came out in October.
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It's 5 years from the date last sold. Soooo probably by next month it's going vintage.

Besides California, Vintage = Obsolete for the rest of us. Apple won't service them.

The interesting one is the MD101LL/A (Mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro)... I'm not sure it'll ever die, Apple sold it so damn long.
 
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It’s interesting they called this the Series 1. I feel the original reasoning behind the ‘series’ name is they would have kept the names. The Series 1 being the lower cost watch, Series 2 the higher end. When the new gen came out it would still be the Series 2. Had the Ultra then joined with this naming scheme it would be the Series 3.

Then it was ditched and they just stuck with an iPhone style numbering system for each new generation of watch, just prefixed with ‘series’.
 
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Mr. Dee said:
Its on Watch OS 8.7.1 which still works with my iPhone X 16.7.1.
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I ended up selling mine in may because it just wouldn’t work with my phone properly like something as simple as an alarm. If I turned it off on my phone it wouldn’t turn off on the watch and vice versa and man it was so slow it was almost unusable and I had the better version with 16gbs of storage the battery health was still 90% too. I’ve got an 8 now functionally it’s not that different but it so fast you don’t think about it. I hate it when tech gets to the point you have to wait for it at that point it’s time to move on. Was certainly a case of not realising how much of a day to day improvement that is. Again it does nothing different so it’s not like the 8 has blown me away but some nice additions like the screen size brightness bezels and always on are also really nice features that you don’t appreciate until you use it.
 
tomscott1988 said:
I ended up selling mine in may because it just wouldn’t work with my phone properly like something as simple as an alarm. If I turned it off on my phone it wouldn’t turn off on the watch and vice versa and man it was so slow it was almost unusable and I had the better version with 16gbs of storage the battery health was still 90% too. I’ve got an 8 now functionally it’s not that different but it so fast you don’t think about it. I hate it when tech gets to the point you have to wait for it at that point it’s time to move on. Was certainly a case of not realising how much of a day to day improvement that is. Again it does nothing different so it’s not like the 8 has blown me away but some nice additions like the screen size brightness bezels and always on are also really nice features that you don’t appreciate until you use it.
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How does the ECG work on the S3? And the AOD? Crash detection? 5Ghz Wifi? BT 5.3? Fall detection? Compass? Blood oxygen? Or you don’t use any of those features on your S8? Even if you don’t personally use any of those features I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the S8 and S3 do the same thing.
 
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They should include another category... Antique...

Apple considers your Apple Watch 1st Generation to be Antique. Congratulations... parts may be available via your replicator!

(FYI I'm not sure when replicators actually appeared in Star Trek)
 
tomtad said:
It’s interesting they called this the Series 1. I feel the original reasoning behind the ‘series’ name is they would have kept the names. The Series 1 being the lower cost watch, Series 2 the higher end. When the new gen came out it would still be the Series 2. Had the Ultra then joined with this naming scheme it would be the Series 3.

Then it was ditched and they just stuck with an iPhone style numbering system for each new generation of watch, just prefixed with ‘series’.
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I never interpreted that as the scheme personally and don’t recall anyone else reporting that the series 1/2 would be an ongoing family name.

To me it always seemed like an incrementing number. The Series 1 was a super minor revision to the OG Apple Watch, a CPU bump purely. Many retroactively took to calling the OG Series 0 even at the time the 1 and 2 launched which itself suggests those people were applying the incrementing number convention. If they wanted a static series I’d think they’d use a word or letter instead of a number 1, 2, 3 that sells that one is premium over another.

I always felt like the “Series” branding fell out of Apple wanting to treat this as a more premium fashion product, thus the gold model and displays in prominent fashion stores around the world initially. “Series” just sounded more premium than a number on its own.

That was my read anyway.
 
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Howard2k said:
How does the ECG work on the S3? And the AOD? Crash detection? 5Ghz Wifi? BT 5.3? Fall detection? Compass? Blood oxygen? Or you don’t use any of those features on your S8? Even if you don’t personally use any of those features I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the S8 and S3 do the same thing.
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They show the (same) time? ;)

Well, there are those who say that the S9 was a meh update… just can’t please MR members…
 
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